It is common to use planting stakes in the planting and care of plants. It should be understood that the term "plants" as used herein may include trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines, edible crops, ornamentals, and the like. Stakes hold a plant upright and carry its leaves and flowers up into the sunlight, helping the plant prosper. Sunlight acts on green chlorophyll in leaves to digest raw materials from soil and air (photosynthesis).
Certain plants traditionally requiring staking include tomato vines, roses, and many varieties of orchids. In these plants, the stems are too long and thin to be held erect even by the woody tissue of the stem.
In addition, the use of stakes generally on other plants can be advantageous to deal with a variety of conditions or problems that may be encountered by the farmer or gardener. Stakes provide support for the plant against winds, watering and heavy snow. They keep plants from sprawling on the ground and disturbing adjacent plants which can be a problem where space is limited. Stakes further ensure that a plant when fully grown, will have a strong, straight stem or trunk. For example, in the case of exhibition chrysanthemums, a strong, straight stem to support the prize-winning bloom is highly desired.
There have been three alternatives in staking: brush staking, wire loops on wire support, and one or several garden stakes with ties. For brush staking, twiggy brush is assembled so that there is a finger-size main stick with plenty of twiggy branches growing from it, broom fashion. The plant is ringed with a dozen or more of the brushy sticks, butts pushed firmly into the soil. See for example, Good Housekeeping, Basic Gardening Techniques (1974), 157. Brush staking can compound a space problem and requires great effort in gathering, assembling, and using the brush as a stake.
Disadvantages are also associated with the use of wire loops on wire supports and clean stakes with ties. Weekly visits are required to add more ties and to check existing ties to ensure that the ties do not become too tight as the plant grows causing "girdling". "Girdling" refers to the choking of a branch by a wire, rope, or other inflexible material. It occurs most often in woody plants that have been too tightly tied to a stake or support. As the tied limb increases in girth, the tie fails to expand in diameter and cuts off supplies of nutrients and water to the part of the plant above the tie. If girdling goes unnoticed, the part of the plant above the constriction will die. See, Sunset Magazine, New Western Gardening Book, 1979, p. 508. Other drawbacks of the wire loops and clean stake alternatives have been recognized. When cutting off twigs or pruning the plants, the ties are generally required to be released from the stakes and this is time-consuming and complicated. Also, much like brush staking, the stakes form a "stick field" which is undesirable for aesthetic reasons. See, British Patent No. 944,096 published June 2, 1965. Moreover, the clean stakes are typically made from bamboo and redwood which may not withstand strong winds and can be easily broken.
It is also known that plants can be tied up with the aid of twine, string, cord or wire which is secured at one end to the plant and extends vertically upwardly from the plant to be secured at its other end to a support secured horizontally above the plant. This vertical support system, the purpose of which is to hold the plant upright, loses its function because it hangs progressively loose as the plant grows. British Patent No. 994,096, supra, describes a device to keep the vertical support permanently taut irrespective of the growth of the plant. A pivotally arranged winding-up drum for the wire or string and a resilient member rotating the winding-up drum in one direction is described. This device disadvantageously requires an overhead trellis or other horizontal support system on which to hang the device detracting from available space and aesthetics. Its internal spring system is subject to high breakage and the further the line is pulled out, the greater the tension. Further, many plants that require tying-up may still need a stake.
The present invention provides an apparatus for a plant training stake and a method of using same to train a plant to grow upright which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art by furnishing a self-contained durable plant training stake that occupies only a small amount of space, that requires little or no maintenance or monitoring, and that by maintaining a uniform constant tension, the support automatically compensates for the growth of the plant and remains permanently taut which keeps the plant upright.